1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hygiene device that is intended to supply a certain amount of a liquid such as water to wet a tissue before using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art hygiene devices, there are various ways used to wet toilet paper before the toilet paper is used. One way of wetting the toilet paper involves pulling some of the toilet paper from a toilet paper roll and holding it under the nozzle of a liquid dispenser, then pressing a button to activate the dispenser to deposit some water on the toilet paper. The paper itself may be specially made by laminating the toilet paper to a moisture resistant backing layer such as a water soluble, wax backed sheet. Another way of wetting the toilet paper involves rotatably mounting a roll of toilet paper in a holder which includes a body containing a fluent substance under pressure and a discharge nozzle at one end of the holder. Both of these apparatuses are complicated and messy to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,647 issued Mar. 12, 1991 to Peggy Sharp discloses a detachable multi-unit dispenser and hanging support which has detachable containers with cone shaped filling units in the dispenser. Each filling unit has a normally closed, button operable valve which controls an outlet in each container. Detachably secured to the bottom of the dispenser by suction cups is a removable platform. However, the nozzle in this case is operated by pressing in an upwards manner on a button located behind the nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,899 issued Feb. 20, 1990 to Joseph Mitchell discloses a mounting apparatus for mounting a roll of toilet paper in a wall fixture, and which incorporates structure for dispensing a fluent substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,052 issued May 2, 1989 to Lewis A Micallef discloses a dispensing pump with a nozzle/lever combination where the lever is pulled in a backwards manner to cause the nozzle to discharge a liquid in a forwards direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,195 issued May 5, 1987 to John von Buelow et al. discloses a wall mounted soap dispenser made of plastic which has a hand operated pump. The pump and container are enclosed in a plastic housing which is hingedly mounted on a plastic wall plate. A plastic latch with a plastic key is used to lock the housing to the wall mounting plate. The pump mechanism uses a piston of two sections of different diameter and corresponding piston chamber of two sections of different diameter. The piston is attached to the lever which moves the piston by means of a crossbar on the end of the piston rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,056 issued Dec. 9, 1980 to Council A. Tucker et al. discloses a soap dispenser mounted in a cabinet. The dispenser has a sump, a container and an actuating lever. The reservoir container is supported in an inverted attitude on the reservoir sump, emptying downwardly thereinto, and partially forwardly overlies the actuating lever, being forwardly supported to prevent the container from inadvertently depressing the actuating lever dispensing soap from the dispensing mechanism when the container is removed forwardly and replaced rearwardly to replenish the soap supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,363 issued Apr. 19, 1977 to Antonio Macchi Cassia discloses a soap dispenser with a support bracket adapted to be mounted on a wall, actuating structure attached to the support bracket, and a pump for emitting a charge of liquid soap from the nozzle, the actuator allowing the soap to flow from the nozzle by pulling a control plate from a normal position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,002 issued Feb. 3, 1976 to John D. Geberth, Jr. discloses an adjustable spray tip or nozzle for devices which are adapted to hydraulically atomize and spray liquids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,271 issued Feb. 11, 1975 to Max Gold discloses a personal cleaning device that has a feature of dispensing liquids onto a specially made toilet paper which has a moisture resistant backing material.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,942,631 issued Jun. 28, 1960 to Harold F. Biewald discloses a pressurized container and auxiliary adaptor/actuators therefor. The adaptor/actuator is designed to deposit the contents of the pressurized container onto the hand or tool which is used to actuate the adaptor/actuator.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,311 issued Jul. 1, 1958 to Ferdinand Parizek discloses a soap dispenser in the form of a bottle which can be fixed by a clamp to the wall in a vertical position with the opening facing downwardly, and can be removed after loosening the clamp, and is provided with a dispensing device for dispensing successive batches of liquid soap. The dispensing device includes a pin which is urged outwardly by a spring. When the pin is pushed upward, a batch of soap is dispensed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,547,744 issued Apr. 3, 1951 to Irving A. Burger discloses a measuring device for liquid containers. The container is held in an inverted position by means of a spring clip which is, in turn, held against a portion of a wall or the like by means of screws. Slidable in a neck portion of the container is a valve comprising a stem portion and a radially extending disk-like head portion. A T-shaped passageway is provided through the valve and includes a cross portion and a longitudinal portion. The cross portion opens through opposite sides of the stem while the longitudinal passage opens through the lower side of the head. The stem portion has a sliding fit in the neck of the container. When the valve is in its lowermost position, the ends of the passage portion are closed by engagement with the interior of the container neck so that the contents of the container may not enter into the valve. This is the normal position of the valve which is urged into such a position and resiliently held in such a position by a small coil spring. This spring is anchored in place by the partial reception of one of the coils in a groove in the container neck and the partial reception of a second coil in a hole or groove in the stem portion of the valve. When some of the contents of the container are desired, the cap of the container is unthreaded from its position on the container. Then, by moving the container somewhat laterally, a portion of an annular shoulder of the cap is engaged with the underside of an edge portion of the annular head or flange. Now, on the cap being shifted upwardly, the valve is moved inwardly with respect to the bottle neck exposing the ends of the cross passage to the interior of the container. At this time, the contents of the container may flow into the T-shaped passage, entering through either or both ends of the cross passage, and is discharged through the lower end of the longitudinal passage into the cap. When the height of the liquid in the cap reaches the under or lower side of the head or flange, the entrance of air into the container is prevented and a liquid seal is established.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,233 issued May 18, 1943 to Charles W. Hoppe discloses a soap dispenser in the form of a unit which can be mounted on a wall or other suitable supporting structure and which is operated by the manual reciprocation of a plunger or push rod thereby to discharge a measured amount of soap.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,008,427 issued Jul. 16, 1935 to Joseph R. Vezina discloses an extractor device for shaving cream and the like which delivers a measured amount of shaving cream from a suitable receptacle and delivers it onto a shaving brush. Located within the device are two valves which operate in opposite directions, one of which permits the substance to be ejected when a downward movement is imparted to the device and the other, or inlet valve, is then closed and when an upward movement is imparted to the device, the discharge valve is closed and the inlet valve is opened.
In the conventional personal cleaning devices discussed in the above patents, none of the apparatuses provide for a lever which, when a hand pushes against it, activates a nozzle to allow a metered amount of a liquid, such as water, out of a reservoir to wet the toilet paper held on the hand. Also there is no provision for a check valve such as the check valve used in the instant invention which utilizes a ball or check valve and pin assembly.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.